The Turkish foreign minister said on Tuesday that Turkey would become an influential and wise country whose principles, values and suggestions would be seriously taken into account in 2011.
Speaking at a TV program broadcast by TRT-1 Channel, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu said one of the main goals of Turkish foreign policy in 2010 had been improvement of Turkey’s “visibility” in the international arena and such goal had been achieved successfully.
Davutoglu said, Turkey had not only managed to strengthen its strategic ties with NATO, EU and Council of Europe in 2010, but it had also expanded its cooperation areas with neighboring countries and extended its activities to new regions such as Africa, Far East and Latin America.
Davutoglu said Turkey blended the values of the East and the West in the best way.
“We have all the opportunities to act as a country that creates solutions in areas of clash and leads the way for others. We have the chance to become the world’s wise country. This is our next goal. We want to become a country that has principles and values and a certain power of influence,” the minister said.
Commenting on the negotiation process with Iran on nuclear issue, Davutoglu said Turkey had been displaying an accurate and principled policy on the matter.
“We will definitely intervene in the process. Because, every crisis that we did not step in caused our nation to pay the price, strengthened terrorism and led to economic problems in the past. We cannot be indifferent to matters related to our neighbor Iran, especially to the nuclear issue,” he said.
“The world knows how effective Turkey’s Iran policy is. Therefore, the ball comes back to our field every time,” the minister added.
Regarding the attack on Mavi Marmara and Turkey-Israel relations, Davutoglu said Turkey still waited for an apology and compensation from Israel.
“Turkey’s demands are clear. We are as determined as we were on May 31 (the day of the attack). If Israel wants to normalize its relations with Turkey, it should take this fact into account,” he said.
Upon a question on whether he thought the Armenian resolution would be on USA’s agenda again next April, Davutoglu said some circles in the U.S. Congress tried to exert pressure over Turkey through votes of congressmen who did not have accurate information on the matter.
The minister said such issue should not be a tool of blackmail in Turkey-USA relations anymore.
Davutoglu also said he did not expect a turbulence in Turkey-USA relations in April 2011, on the contrary, Turkey’s goal was to build up a closer cooperation with USA.
AA
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